Downers Grove: A complete failure.
I think I can explain my results quickly and simply, but I don't know, really.
The race was 50min+1, at 9:00am. Every one of my races before this had been 75min+, and 90% of those after 3pm.
I haven't raced before noon since April 2007. Maybe half a dozen rides before noon since then, too.
Quite simply, I couldn't get my heart rate up enough to hurt myself. I took one flyer off the front, reached the break, and then I was toast. Utter and complete toast. The type of effort I did to reach the break I can usually hold for 3-4 minutes; today, about a minute. I was never in pain. I simply couldn't move fast enough. I felt as if there was a vacuum sucking the blood/glycogen out of my muscles. Completely helpless.
The weird thing is that I haven't felt bad in training lately; I've had a decent/normal amount of sleep, I'm producing good power, and my weight is steady.
So, I guess my question is this...has my season up to this point limited my ability to prepare myself for early races like this?
I'm searching for something to explain why I felt so terrible on one of the most important days of my season.